Finding focus

More simply, focus on your work and let go of the rest.

Most days, I feel locked-in. Focused on the task at hand with unwavering attention. Though some days, it can be a battle against distraction. Sure, there are tactics, methods, and strategies for wielding your focus toward the thing you want done. For me, simple systems are work best.

This isn’t a productivity prescription, rather a sharing of ideas of what works for me. Try and remix any of these to suit you.

Accountability clock

Your phone or computer likely has clock app. And I’d bet that clock has a timer feature.

When I’m sitting down to work on a task, I start a timer as my digital accountability partner. I’ve tried pomodoro apps and tracking systems. But, now I find the Clock app on my mac works just fine. No gamification or inspirational quotes. The Unfold chime is my go-to (nice soothing piano vibes).

White noise

Lo-fi, binaural beats, or white noise—whatever works best for you. If I jump onto YouTube for chillstep beats to keep you going or the other variants, I find myself tempted by the algorithm into other videos I didn’t intend to make part of my day. So, I like to keep-it-local by playing this brown noise in my browser on loop (right-click to view the loop setting). Alternatives could be finding a noise or beat that you like and playing it via QuickTime. The key here, simple is better—don’t add “find optimal focus music” to your to-do list.

Index card

Just like the amount of time in a day, index cards have a finite capacity—you can only fit so much onto a single card. That’s the perfect constraint for a focus list. I like to structure my daily index card into two sections: the menu and done lists.

The Menu

Instead of a “to-do list”, pick from a “menu”. Growing to-do lists and lingering tasks feel overwhelming. Rather than feel the pressure of needing to check all the boxes, create a menu of items to select from. Laughable? Perhaps. But, for me it helps shift the mindset of “these have to get done” to “I get to do this thing”.

Done-list

Start you day with an empty list. Then, fill up your list as you get stuff done. Get a double hit of satisfaction by also crossing off the item from the menu. May sound a bit silly, but I’ve found the practice to leave my day feeling positive seeing the empty list grow. It’s also a small moment to reflect on the accomplished task.

Both the menu and done-list are something I picked up from Oliver Burkeman—thank you Oliver for your more chill approach to productivity.